Honda is cashing in on the growing compact estate market with its new Civic Tourer, the first estate version of the Civic since 2001. Rivalling the likes of the Volkswagen Golf Estate and Skoda Octavia Estate, the carmaker claims it has the edge on practicality, offering excellent boot space and low CO2 exhaust emissions.

It’s a striking-looking car that will appeal to some and affront others. Sharing the same wheelbase as the standard Civic, the front-end quite clearly matches the hatch design while the rear extends for an extra 235mm over the five-door and adds some sharp, futuristic lines.

The car also showcases a host of safety technology and its new rear adaptive damping system, which adjusts handling when the car’s carrying heavy loads in the back.

Performance

The engine line-up is simple: a 1.6-litre i-DTEC turbodiesel with 118bhp and a 1.8-litre i-VTEC petrol with 140bhp. The diesel boasts an impressive 300Nm of torque, helping it to achieve 0-62mph in 10.3 seconds, with a top speed of 121mph. The petrol hits 62mph from rest in 9.2 seconds for the manual with entry-level spec, although it can be as sluggish as 11.4 seconds with automatic transmission in top trim. Top speed is 130mph.

Despite appearing faster on paper, the petrol requires much more work to get at its performance, so the diesel is the real winner here, offering more punch in day-to-day driving, while still excelling on economy. While the petrol is slightly quiter, the diesel is also impressively refined, especially once on the move.

The six-speed manual transmission fitted to both engines has well-judged gear ratios, and a precise shift action, allowing you to make the most of the decent acceleration. We’re yet to try the automatic, but it doesn’t have the best reputation, and we'd struggle to recommend it unless you spend all your time in heavy traffic.

Ride and Handling

The Comfort setting forgoes a little body control but will suit the majority, while Dynamic predictably tightens things up without being too jolting over speed bumps.

The Civic Tourer focuses on comfort, and this is achieved with its new adaptive rear suspension dampers, standard on SR and EX trims. It includes ‘Normal’, ‘Comfort’ and ‘Dynamic’ settings. The Comfort setting forgoes a little body control but will suit the majority, while Dynamic predictably tightens things up without being too jolting over speed bumps. The adaptive rear suspension dampers can calculate several parameters including body movement, vehicle speed and steering input to give the Civic the best ride comfort and stability. Steering is well-weighted, particularly when driving the diesel-powered version, but with the petrol unit feels floatier and not nearly as natural from behind the wheel.

Interior and Equipment

The Civic Tourer has been used by Honda’s motorsport division for the British Touring Car Championship.

Interior quality is acceptable, with sturdy plastics. Honda has always prided itself on offering a space age-like cabin design, and while elements certainly stand out against competitors, it’s still not up to scratch versus some in its class. You have to find quite a particular driving position to avoid obscuring the digital speedometer with the steering wheel, and other frustrations include a trip computer which requires Bletchley Park to decrypt. The latest infotainment system is an improvement, however, using an Android smartphone-style interface to speed up operation of the sat-nav and tasks like pairing a phone. The radio could be a bit simpler to tune though.  But what the Civic Tourer has in its favour is ample space with 624 litres in the boot – that’s more than the VW Golf Estate with 605 litres and even beats some luggage loads in the next segment up, such as the Ford Mondeo estate. The one-touch tonneau cover and storage net help on the practicality front too and there’s a neat hidden area for this equipment when it’s not being used. And with Honda’s Magic Seat system, which means rear seats pull down to create a flat load area, there’s 1,668 litres of capacity up to the roof lining. That’s compared to 1,620 litres in the Golf Estate. Somewhat confusingly, there are seven trim levels to choose from: S, S Navi, SE Plus, SE Plus Navi, SR and EX Plus. The entry-level S grade includes DAB radio and 16-inch alloy wheels. The S Navi adds Garmin sat-nav, while SE Plus brings 17-inch wheels, front and rear parking sensors and auto lights and wipers. SR ups the luxury with heated leather seats and also includes the Active Damper System (ADS), while the range-topping EX Plus grade includes keyless entry and start, blue ambient interior lighting and incredibly bright Bi-HID headlights.

Cost

The petrol makes less financial sense delivering 45.6mpg on a combined cycle with 149g/km CO2 emissions.

Honda has hit the nail on the head with its diesel offering, managing 99g/km CO2 and 74.3mpg, which equates to a range of 817 miles on one tank. Meanwhile, the petrol makes less financial sense delivering 45.6mpg on a combined cycle with 146g/km CO2 emissions. It's worth noting that choosing a top trim level can make a difference, with the diesel's CO2 figure increasing to 103g/km and fuel economy dropping to 72.4mpg with the SR and EX Plus trims. The entry-level petrol costs just under £19k, a reasonable saving over the diesel unit that starts at just under £20k. The entry-level petrol is also £20k if you choose the automatic transmission, and it's possible to spend as much as £26k, if you go for a diesel in the EX Plus trim.

Our Verdict

The Civic Tourer is a great inclusion to Honda’s line-up, and is certainly an interesting aesthetic addition to the sector. Offering solid driving dynamics, excellent practicality and a frugal diesel offering, it ticks a lot of boxes. It's not perfect, the interior layout can be confusing and will put off some buyers, while the choice of engines is also limited. But, the 1.6-litre diesel is amongst the best in its class, so if you like the Civic's looks, it's definitely worth a test drive.